The Viral Storm: The Dawn of a New Pandemic Age [Kindle Edition]

Nathan Wolfe (Author)

Book Description

Dynamic young Stanford biologist Nathan Wolfe reveals the surprising origins of the world's most deadly viruses, and how we can overcome catastrophic pandemics.

In The Viral Storm, award-winning biologist Nathan Wolfe tells the story of how viruses and human beings have evolved side by side through history; how deadly viruses like HIV, swine flu, and bird flu almost wiped us out in the past; and why modern life has made our species vulnerable to the threat of a global pandemic.

Wolfe's research missions to the jungles of Africa and the rain forests of Borneo have earned him the nickname "the Indiana Jones of virus hunters," and here Wolfe takes readers along on his groundbreaking and often dangerous research trips—to reveal the surprising origins of the most deadly diseases and to explain the role that viruses have played in human evolution.

In a world where each new outbreak seems worse than the one before, Wolfe points the way forward, as new technologies are brought to bear in the most remote areas of the world to neutralize these viruses and even harness their power for the good of humanity. His provocative vision of the future will change the way we think about viruses, and perhaps remove a potential threat to humanity's survival.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"By turns terrifying and comforting, The Viral Storm is a clear, riveting account of the threat of undiscovered viruses" ---Mary Roach, author of Stiff

Review

The world's most prominent virus hunter ... Nathan Wolfe's life conforms more to the pattern of a nineteenth-century explorer than to that of a twenty-first-century biologist New Yorker What sets Wolfe apart is his swashbuckling style - he chooses to do most of his work in the field - combined with a flair for communication and negotiation Nature

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Product Details

• File Size: 1127 KB
• Print Length: 324 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1846142989
• Publisher: Times Books; Reprint edition (October 11, 2011)
• Sold by: Macmillan
• Language: English
• ASIN: B004V9O58E
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Not Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #118,415 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #21 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Science > Biological Sciences > Biology > Microbiology
  • #21 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Biological Sciences > Biology > Microbiology
  • #26 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Professional & Technical > Medical eBooks > Internal Medicine > Infectious Disease > Communicable Diseases

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 37 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating and surprising! October 17, 2011

By Gabe

Format:Hardcover

A truly engaging book on a mostly unexplored form of life - microbes. Each chapter goes deeper into the history, power, uses, and misconceptions of viruses (but also bacteria and parasites). Wolfe also uncoveres the long co-evolution of humans and viruses - he even argues that humans were once close to extinction. And who knew viruses could be "gentle"!

A great read, an astonishing subject, a surprisingly exciting book.

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Not really what I expected November 17, 2011

By Justin

Format:Hardcover

More of a Nathan Wolfe Autobiography / Primate Evolution book than anything else. Not to say that it isn't interesting in it's own right (and Dr. Wolfe has certainly had an amazing career), but this is far from what I expected based on the summaries. He also seems to focus on other infectious agents as much as viruses and more on how to monitor them than their history or pandemic potential. While reading the first 100 pages or so I was pretty sure I picked up a book about primate behavior instead of viruses. That's a bit much for a book of less than 250 pages total.

I personally didn't find it very engaging but it's not bad book by any means. Just don't be mislead by the title.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars The first 35 pages are worth the price of the book December 24, 2011

By Beth E. Williams VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I know enough about my fascination with viruses to know, as a non-scientist, my curiosity about them has more to do with philosophy than medicine but that may well be yet another reason for biologists (for just one group) to be equally ensnared by their subject.

The Virus, for its opportunism in the extreme (parasitical is too meager a description) and because its very nature is controversial (is it Life or isn't it? I agree with his footnote on the bottom of pg.8) can appear to be such a vast topic that no one author can be expected to resolve or ask or even comprehend all the questions. Wolfe, in his first 35 pages, does at least try - and it remains my favorite section of the book - his amazement with these microscopic life(?)forms is so engaging that if you didn't have a respect for them before you will have afterwards. And, if the next 300 or so pages that come after it were just "so-so" for me that is not the fault of Wolfe, he has a wide readership to appeal to and just because I am not particularly interested in bureaucracies, who got what grant to do what and where does not mean that these aren't valid sections for millions of others.

But those first 35 pages, yes, they are heady indeed, Wolfe is delightful in both his recognition of just what makes these viruses so shocking and where we fit in their world (ie."our bodies are their habitats," p.27), and his conclusion in the first chapter, (Viral Planet) says it all: the viral world is the "new world," the last frontier of undiscovered life on our planet."

Perhaps it is the Lewis Thomas phenomena, a flashpoint where scientist and non-scientist can co-exist in a mutual relationship of shared passion, be it horror or admiration, or both? There is much to admire in what a Virus is, or has been, or will be, and if I took nothing else away from Wolfe's book it is that "we" are (numerically) a speck of life within a planetary Viral soup. These life forms are so relentlessly efficient, competent and resourceful that even bacteria (which we tend to think of as quite accomplished all on their own) are covered in viruses! And it goes far beyond just the numbers, "we" are not as dominant as we like to think we are, and Wolfe's presentation of the Viral world inverted or turned inside out my naive and humanistic vanity that on this planet "we" are the masters. We survive because it suits the Virus to help or even make sure that we survive; even the health of the oceans and other aquatic regions are dependent upon viruses to reduce and recycle carbon by destroying bacteria there; as with carbon itself, without viruses "we" would not be here either.

Aside from these initial pages I also found worthy discussions on bioterrorism and "bioerror" (see chap.8 Viral Rush) and the Gentle Virus (chap.11) which just reinforces my analogy that we are closer to being the non-thinking but accommodating host than they are haphazard non-cognitive scraps of DNA/RNA parasite!

Give the first 35 pages a good read, and be prepared to lose that sense of superiority over these titans of the microscopic world.

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